BREAKING: Hobby People and Global Hobby Distributors to close doors

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By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

On Saturday, January 14, those who had signed up to receive promotional emails from Hobby People - a chain of stores operating in the southwest U.S. as well as online - got an announcement that the company was going out of business.

The company includes Global Hobby Distributors, which sold XTM Racing and DHK Hobby vehicles and accessories, as well as Airtronics radios and servos from 2007 through March 2016.

Neither Hobby People nor Global Hobby Distributors has published any information about the closure. In fact, the Hobby People website lists the sale offered to email list members as simply a “blowout” sale:

The news comes less than three weeks after the passing of founder Paul Bender, though the events aren’t believed to be connected. Several of the company's retail stores had closed over the past couple of months.

A call to the company’s headquarters was answered by a man who said he wasn’t at liberty to speak on the record but did confirm the company was ceasing operation after 45 years in business. “The clock on the wall says ‘that’s all,’” he said, saying there was no particular reason for the decision but that company executives were being tight-lipped about any possible explanations. “They’re not talking about it,” he said, “but if there was a reason for you to know I’d try to find someone.”

Another representative confirmed the company’s last day of operation will be Thursday, January 19.